One Week Later

One Week Later
I carried the salad bowl out the back of our packhouse; rows and rows of tables lined the fields as all the packs gathered. It was Jacob’s funeral today, and a memorial wall was erected in honor of those lost since Kade came about decades ago.

It was funny to think that one misunderstanding by my great-grandfather had brought about nearly a century of terror, ruled by one man even decades after his death. But for once, everyone was hopeful this was the end, the end of one lifetime and the beginning of another.

Avery wasn’t able to sever the bond between Emily and Rayan. Asmodeus, too, had returned with Avery after dipping her in the fountain of life. After taking her to the seven sisters of some purgatory who apparently owed him a favor, Asmodeus was able to keep his word, or Amy and Avery would no longer be here. Avalon City would have lost their high priestess, and we would have lost an irreplaceable family friend.

I placed the salad bowl on the table as Ace brought over a meat tray from the spit roast. I looked down at Amy in Avery’s arms, her emerald green eyes peering up at her mother. Her jet-black hair matched her father’s. A perfect combination of the two of them. Aamon brushed Avery’s hair behind her ear before kissing her shoulder.

Glancing down the table, my stepfather sat at the end. He had been quiet today, watching over his family and pack. His somber expression saddened me, and I knew he felt Jacob’s loss the most. Jacob was one of his best friends and family to him.

Burns ravaged most of his body, but he still looked like the fearless king he was. The ruler of our kind. I sighed, looking down at the table of three generations of family all in one place—generations of heartache and pain, but we still stood. We held strong. Never have I felt so at home than I did at this moment.

Pack members mingled and talked as all packs came together. Rayan was talking to Emily, her mother thankfully recovered after the bond was severed between her and Jamie, and she took over his pack and seemed to be readjusting to a life outside of the cells. Melana joined Alicia’s pack and is now a Beta. She and Nathaniel finally marked each other, and he looked smitten to have his mate.

Looking for her, I found her talking to Mitchell, laughing at something he was showing her on his phone, while Nathaniel and Mitchell’s mate looked over her shoulder, watching, too. Melana, feeling my eyes on her, looked up. She smiled and nodded at me. I nodded back, all animosity left behind, the past not forgotten but no longer holding us back. We both got what we wanted, and I moved toward the memorial wall that finished being built yesterday, the plaques all in place. Mom and dad were staying with us until a new packhouse could be built. Each pack now had its own memorial, and the day was placed on the calendar as a day to remember those lost.

Looking up at the wall, Abel sat at the top; it started with him, and it seemed fitting. Looking over the names, I recognized most but not all. Despite Josie causing issues, her name was also etched into one of the plaques; she hadn’t always been a monster, and I tried to remember her as my friend.

Mitchell stepped beside me, looking up at the colossal wall of names, our enemies and friends frozen in time but never forgotten. He grabbed my hand, and I glanced over at him. He nudged me with his shoulder, and I smiled, nudging him back when I felt another hand slide into mine. I gave her hand a squeeze peeking up at Melana, once enemies now friends. Life was too short for grudges, and hate was not something I wanted to hang on to.

Feeling arms wrap around my waist, I looked over my shoulder at Ace; he buried his face in my neck, purring softly.

“I hope I never hear the name Kade again,” he muttered, and I hummed in agreement.

“That would be nice,” Melana said, and Ace nodded.

“So, what’s next for you?” I asked, turning to Mitchell, and he shrugged.

“No idea, you?”

“I have a few ideas,” Ace said, bumping his hips against my ass.

“Get a room,” Melana muttered, nudging me with her hip.

“Not without me, they ain’t. Her parents living with us is the biggest cock blocker,” Tyson said, making us turn as he approached us. Ace growled; Tyson was right. Ryker was always at us about doors remaining open despite the fact they were my mates and we were all adults. Apparently, I was still his daughter, and the 1.5-meter rule had been set in place while they lived under OUR roof.

“Gosh, how you will survive them two is beyond me. Ace was annoying enough.”

“Annoyingly fantastic,” Ace said, and Melana rolled her eyes at him when I was tugged away by Tyson. Ace growled at him, reaching for me.

“Stop being a hog,” Tyson snapped at him, kissing my head.

Avery wandered over to us with Aamon.

“So, this is it…” she mused, looking up at the gigantic wall.

“Is that confirmation that the bastard won’t be haunting us again from the grave?” Tyson asked, and Avery smiled.

“Something is always haunting us from beyond the grave,” she answered, and I shivered.

“But yes, I feel this is the end of Kade,” she said, looking back out at everyone gathered here today before she groaned loudly. I followed her gaze, and Aamon chuckled when I finally spotted her father casually leaning against the side of the house, talking to three she-wolves.

“Can’t take him anywhere,” she muttered, shaking her head. She passed Amy to Aamon and stormed over to him in a blazing fury, her cheeks red with embarrassment as her father was surrounded by she-wolves swooning over him.

“Dad, you old horn dog! Shoo, get away from them!” Avery scolded her father. The she-wolves darted off, and Asmodeus glared at his daughter.

“What? I wasn’t doing anything,” he said innocently.

“You know exactly what you were doing. They have mates.”

Aamon laughed beside us, and Melana fanned herself with her hand. “Is it hot out here?” she laughed, and my face glowed red. There was no denying Avery’s father was definitely a panty-dropper. Ace growled as all faces turned toward Avery’s father, and I had never seen a man get so many death stares and not by one wolf but every male wolf here as all the ladies, even those mated, couldn’t tear their eyes from the dark, handsome, mysterious man. He just commanded attention with otherworldly sex appeal.

“That arousal I can smell better be because I am touching you and not because of the old carcass over there,” Tyson growled below my ear.

“He doesn’t look old,” Melana said, her voice sounding far away. Nathaniel grabbed her hand; she seemed to be in some trance as she stared after Asmodeus.

“The fossil is older than the earth,” Aamon said.

“Just something so appealing about him,” I mused, and Ace cleared his throat.

“What? We can look?” Melana said.

“I wonder—” Asmodeus smiled tauntingly at his daughter’s angry red face.

“You wonder nothing. Dad, stop it, you filthy old man,” Avery scolded, shooing him away.

Even a few of the men were watching, drooling over him. My stepfather whistled, and Asmodeus looked over at him, a smile flashing on his face, and half the woman near him swooned. Tyson and Ace growled as he passed us, sending a wink at Melana and me. I chuckled, knowing his demonic ways had us wanting to beg at his feet just to touch him.

He flopped down in a chair beside my stepfather, and even my mother and grandmother were no match against his appeal. My mother was staring at him in a trance. Asmodeus smirked while my stepfather rolled his eyes, only to growl when my mother reached her hand out. I could tell she wasn’t with it. Ryker grabbed her hand, tugging her in his lap.

“Stop it, god of the underworld or not, I will drag you to the pits of hell myself,” Ryker warned him, and he chuckled, putting his hands up in surrender.

“I’m on my best deviant behavior,” he retorted.

“Bloody old fool, we just finished a war. Does he really want to start another by bedding everyone here?” Avery said, reaching for Amy in Aamon’s arms.

“You should try living with him. Ten years I had to listen to the noises coming from his room,” Aamon huffed.

“Well, you shouldn’t have killed my parents, and I wouldn’t have locked you there.”

“I have been scarred for life. The man is insatiable, a beast in bed.”

“I would rather not hear about my father’s bedroom adventures,” Avery said.

“Hear about them? I had to watch them do the walk of shame each morning. His bedroom was like a revolving door,” Aamon muttered.

“I’m gonna see if he needs anything,” Melana muttered dreamily.

“Like hell you are, you stay away from him,” Nathaniel growled possessively, shooting a glare at Asmodeus, who was clearly enjoying the attention. In fact, I was pretty sure he was reveling in it.